Elephant Park
One of the events that our junior traveller has been most looking forward to is our visit to the Elephant Safari Park Lodge. It’s on the other side of the mountains, so to get there, we pack up our gear, check out of our rental, and head off from Lovina by 9am. We make a few stops along the way, with the first being a local market to let Joey experience the organized chaos and see all kinds of foods he never knew existed (who knew there were dozens of kinds of peanuts?).
From there, we take a short drive to a palace of the former king of this region. Looking over some of the exhibits, I realize I know almost nothing about the history of Bali (or Indonesia as a whole for that matter), which is a bit humbling given this is our second time visiting.
Our last stop before heading into the mountains is a supermarket, as we don’t know what will be around our next hotel and need to stock up on snacks. One thing we enjoy when traveling is trying unusual food, and a grocery store is a great place to find mouthwatering treasures like seaweed flavored potato chips, chicken rings, and a drink called Sweat. Just imagine the juvenile fun possible with an 11 year old boy and a bag of Balls (“Hey, get your hands off my Balls!”).
By lunchtime, we are ready for a break from the car, so are happy to arrive at the Ulun Danu Beratan temple and stretch our legs. The temple is one of particular importance in Bali, as it sits on the shore of the lake that provides much of the fresh water to the island.
After another long day on the road, we finally arrive at the elephant park. Joey can hardly wait to drop our bags off and get out to see the animals. We are just in time to see the talent show, which is a big hit.
We spend the next hour or so wandering around the park before heading back to our room to get ready for dinner. At this hotel, an elephant picks you up at your room and you ride to the restaurant. It’s dark by this point so no good pictures, but rest assured we have one extremely smiley young man on our hands.